Bangladesh

While Bangladesh may not appear to be a major player on the bilateral FTA front, it is currently under many pressures and involved in various discussions:

The government was dealt harsh arrangements from the EU in the two parties’ trade and development cooperation agreement of 2001, through which Dhaka accepted WTO-plus demands from the EU, for instance to allow corporate monopoly rights over seeds (patenting); The government was in controversial talks with the US over a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, a preliminary to a possible FTA with Washington; but decided not to sign one in 2010 after several years of discussions. The US subsequently asked Bangladesh to sign a Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum deal, but this has not yet been signed; India has been pushing for a bilateral FTA with Bangladesh, but the World Bank has made clear that India would benefit more; Pakistan has been pushing for an FTA with Bangladesh as well; Bangladesh, for its part, is interested in developing an FTA with China.

Apart from all these, the government is either negotiating or considering negotiating FTAs with Iran, Turkey, Bhutan, Malaysia, Morocco and Sri Lanka.

On a regional level, Bangladesh is a member of SAARC, which has its own FTA, as well as BIMSTEC, which also aims to develop one.

Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed has expressed the hope that Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur (KL) would sign a Free Trade Agreement between Malaysia and Bangladesh by middle of next year

Bangladesh government has decided to ink a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Czech Republic to expand trade and commerce with the central European country, said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Monday.

The planned free-trade agreement (FTA) between Bangladesh and Malaysia for enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation could not be signed for lukewarm response from Dhaka, the Malaysian envoy said Monday.

A writ petition was filed with the High Court in Dhaka Wednesday challenging the legality of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (TICFA), signed recently between Bangladesh and the USA.

President Barack Obama cut off long-time US trade benefits for Bangladesh on Thursday in a mostly symbolic response to conditions in the country’s garment industry that have cost more than 1,200 lives in the past year.

With the Cabinet’s nod to give it a go ahead, the proposed Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (TICFA) between Bangladesh and the USA is almost through, awaiting to be signed at a convenient time by the two governments.

Bangladesh says it is ready to start discussions with Sri Lanka to strike a Free Trade Agreement between the two nations to improve two way trade, announced the Island’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Turkey is offering to pursue a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bangladesh, but the two sides have not taken a potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA) off the table, officials said at a recent meeting of top economic officials here.

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Finance has opposed the move of striking an agreement on bilateral Free Trade Area with Malaysia fearing the proposed deal, if signed, would only increase the trade deficit for Bangladesh.

Dhaka is moving ahead steadily to sign an accord on a bilateral Free Trade Area (FTA) with Kuala Lumpur as the ministry of commerce (MoC) has recently sent its "well-guarded position", containing a template on the proposed FTA to the Malaysian government, a top ministry official said.

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